Renown political analyst and University of Nairobi lecturer Herman Manyora has now claimed that Deputy President William Ruto will win the 2022 elections because he has an upper hand in the referendum push which will work for him in 2022.
Speaking through his youtube show 'Take it or Leave It', Manyora opined that the referendum talk is not really well received by the citizens as at now so it will be difficult for the handshake team to push this agenda.
"This referendum animal is not quite resonating well with the people of Kenya as of today. Therefore, it's up to the handshake team to move this thing to a level where it can resonate with the public," Manyora opined.
In addition, Manyora noted that the issues put ahead by the referendum team do not really go hand in hand with what Kenyans want. This is because of the perceived credibility, legitimacy issue and lack of confidence by Kenyans on the Building Bridges Initiative(BBI), a team that is used by the handshake team to get opinions from Kenyans on referendum matters.
"You(handshake team) want to use the BBI to say this is what Kenyans want. That will not wash why? The BBI itself has credibility and legitimate issues hanging over its head... Even the guys within that bridging team do not inspire confidence," he said.
Furthermore, the change in government structure to create positions like Prime Ministers and others that are purportedly being part of the new constitution changes will not rhyme well with Kenyans according to Manyora.
He opines that DP Ruto has successfully managed to convince Kenyans 'creating positions' for few Kenyans is not a good thing.
"William Ruto is very eloquent, he says we want to give people water, electricity, roads, hospitals not positions for leaders. This is kind of received well by Kenyans.
"Since this is your number one priority for (the) constitution to change, I am sure Ruto will successfully work up Kenyans to see this is a wrong move," Manyora said.
The Idea of creating regions as opposed to the counties will also not fit well with County leaders and this will make it hard to push referendum if governors and MCAs are against it according to Manyora.